Recorded as Soro, Sorro, Zorro, the diminutive Zorilla, this is a Spanish medieval nickname. It originates either from the word 'zorra' meaning a vixen and hence a fast moving and cunning person, or from 'zorro' which means almost the complete opposite being apparently given to somebody was rather sedentary in their habits. However to add to the complication and confusion, medieval nickname surnames were not only 'robust and sometimes both offensive and even obscene, but they quite often meant the very opposite of what they seem to describe! In addition modern translations of words and nicknames of seven centuries or more ago are often at best only 'gestimates', and this can lead to serious research problems. Certainly in the 20th and 21st centuries this surname has quite a dashing reputation having figured in a number of Hollywood epics. The coat of arms most associated with the surname has the blazon of a silver shield charged with in pale a tree, between two hunting dogs.

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